Jack Daniel's maker Brown-Forman Corp. said Wednesday that its third-quarter profit rose 5 percent, led by strong demand for its pricier American whiskeys and broad sales growth in the U.S. and overseas.

Mayor Marty Walsh is defending Boston's 2024 Olympic bid in some of his strongest terms yet, saying that — win or lose — the pursuit of the games represents a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for the city and would not leave taxpayers shouldering a massive bill.

In the pecking order of who gets paid when a retailer goes belly up, customers are considered unsecured creditors. That means if they don’t use their cards while stores are still open, consumers have less protection in a bankruptcy than, say, a bank lender.

Abercrombie & Fitch's fiscal fourth-quarter profit beat analysts' expectations, helped by expense control efforts. But the teen clothing retailer's revenue came up short and a top executive warned the first half performance would remain challenging.

Poland's central bank has cut its key interest rate by half a percentage point to a historic low of 1.5 percent amid concerns over deflation, a sustained drop in consumer prices that can hurt the economy.

Militants purportedly from the Islamic State group attacked an oil field near Libya's central coast, prompting a counterattack by the country's Islamist-backed government that included airstrikes, an official said Wednesday.

A European Union high court has handed Britain and its London financial hub a victory by ruling against a European Central Bank decision that would have forced financial institutions clearing trades in euros to be based in the eurozone.

The first set of lawsuits stemming from the crash of an Asiana Airlines flight in San Francisco two years ago have been settled, but dozens of additional cases remain after the accident that killed three Chinese teenagers and injured nearly 200 people.

Sharply divided along familiar lines, the Supreme Court took up a politically charged new challenge to President Barack Obama's health overhaul Wednesday in a dispute over the tax subsidies that make insurance affordable for millions of Americans.

China played down U.S. concerns that proposed anti-terror legislation would give the Chinese government sweeping power to police electronic communications and marginalize foreign companies fighting for a share of China's $465 billion technology market, saying Wednesday that the law is purely designed to address domestic security issues.

The inquiry into the biggest corruption scandal yet uncovered in Brazil entered an expansive new phase, as the attorney general formally requested the Supreme Court's permission to open investigations against 54 people, most expected to be top political figures.

More than 70 passengers aboard an Asiana Airlines flight that crashed in San Francisco two years ago have reached a settlement in their lawsuits against the airline, attorneys for the passengers and airline said in a court filing Tuesday.

The type of asset swap New Orleans Saints and Pelicans owner Tom Benson is attempting to try to regain complete control of his business interests from recently estranged heirs is being challenged in a new lawsuit in Texas.

Brazil's attorney general on Tuesday asked the nation's Supreme Court for permission to investigate 54 people, the majority top political figures, for alleged involvement in what prosecutors say is the country's largest corruption scandal yet uncovered.

A glut of crude oil has pushed the amount of crude in the U.S. to record levels. Here are the biggest crude storage fields in the U.S., and how much they can hold, according to the market data provider Genscape.

Americans may just be getting used to mobile pay, but consumers in many African countries have been paying with their phones for years. Now payment processors Visa and MasterCard want to get a slice of that market, and are launching card services aimed at Africa's growing mobile payment industry.

U.S. stock indexes closed lower Tuesday, pulling the Nasdaq composite index back below 5,000. The decline came a day after the Nasdaq closed above that milestone for the first time since the dot-com era 15 years ago.

The Boston-area public transit agency outlined several options Tuesday for compensating passengers who endured weeks of delays, cancellations and system-wide shutdowns as more than 8 feet of snow battered the region.

A New York City lawmaker said at a hearing Tuesday that he didn't have confidence in the leadership of the private health provider awarded a $126 million contract to administer health care at the Rikers Island jail complex.

As the number of U.S. drilling rigs plummets by a third and thousands in the industry face layoffs, oil companies are focusing on an effort to convince Congress to lift the longstanding ban on oil exports.

The following list represents the most streamed tracks on Spotify, based on the number of people who shared it divided by the number who listened to it, from Monday, Feb. 23 to Sunday, March 2 via Facebook, Tumblr, Twitter and Spotify.

The Food and Drug Administration is warning doctors against over-prescribing testosterone-boosting drugs for men, saying the popular treatments have not been established as safe or effective for common age-related issues like low libido and fatigue.

A legendary billionaire investor defended his Silicon Valley venture capital firm Tuesday while testifying in a high-profile sex discrimination lawsuit that has accused the firm of being an all-boys club where women were denied chances to advance and treated as second-class citizens.

Two major U.S airlines say they will no longer accept rechargeable battery shipments as new government tests confirm that explosions and violent fires are likely to occur when large numbers of batteries enclosed in cargo containers overheat.

A unanimous Supreme Court ruled Tuesday that federal courts can hear a dispute over Colorado's Internet tax law. One justice suggested it was time to reconsider the ban on state collection of sales taxes from companies outside their borders.

Top business executives are pressing Congress to give President Barack Obama greater authority to negotiate international trade deals, citing the potential for increased hiring in the United States and greater competitiveness for their companies overseas.

With tens of millions of gamers now regularly spectating video games online and in real-world arenas, game developers looking to create the next "StarCraft" or "League of Legends" might learn a few lessons at this year's Game Developers Conference.

Bitterly admitting defeat, the Republican-controlled Congress sent legislation to President Barack Obama on Tuesday that funds the Department of Homeland Security without any of the immigration-related concessions they demanded for months.

China played down U.S. concerns that proposed anti-terror legislation would give the Chinese government sweeping power to police electronic communications and marginalize foreign companies fighting for a share of China's $465 billion technology market, saying Tuesday that the law is purely designed to address domestic security issues.

Football in the sun-drenched Mediterranean island of Cyprus is riddled with match-fixing by referees, an operation designed to line the pockets of soccer officials and politicians, according to a senior Cypriot referee.

The Russian government's rainy-day fund has shrunk by almost 10 percent in dollar terms in February after the state sought to fill a hole in its budget, where revenues have suffered due to low oil prices.

Official data show that Switzerland's economy expanded by a stronger-than-expected 0.6 percent in the fourth quarter, the last before the country's central bank abandoned its effort to cap the Swiss franc's value against the euro.

High-end smartphones from Samsung and HTC have gotten much of the attention at this week's wireless show in Barcelona, Spain, but cheaper options are coming from Microsoft, Lenovo and others too. Meanwhile, Google and Facebook are working on giving people more ways to use those devices.

The CEO of Volkswagen AG is staying with his cautious outlook for this year, saying it's a "balanced statement" based on growth in the U.S., Europe and China versus trouble spots such as Russia and Brazil.

Southeastern Conference Commissioner Mike Slive says it would be best to wait until after the NCAA's new initial eligibility standards take effect in 2016 before considering whether to keep freshmen off the field.

A gag order in the criminal case of the West Virginia coal mine explosion that killed 29 men violates the First Amendment by barring virtually anyone from discussing it publicly, a lawyer for media organizations said Monday.

There is a defensive end heading for free agency who had 15 sacks in his last full season. The kind of player a team can build a pass rush around, if he were spending more time on the football field and less in the courts fighting domestic abuse charges.

Sci-fi solutions or making friends one at a time? Google and Facebook want more people online, searching around and clicking on ads. And they are finding new ways to make it happen — from selling smartphone data plans, to using solar-powered drone aircraft as floating cell towers to partnering with telecom providers in the developing world to get people hooked on apps.

The Nasdaq composite index closed above 5,000 Monday for the first time since the dot-com bubble peaked 15 years ago. It was only the third time the index has closed above 5,000 in its 44-year history. The other two were March 10, 2000, when it closed at a record high of 5,048, and the day before.

The company that operates the state's commuter rail system has been fined more than $434,000 after nearly two-thirds of the trains were late or canceled during the heavy snowfalls that pounded the region last month, transit officials said Monday.

Forty-four Internal Revenue System Tax Assistance Centers – including those in Tacoma, Silverdale and Seattle – have been enlisted to provide appointments for taxpayers who need help preparing their returns.

Scandinavian Airlines canceled some 50 flights to and from Denmark on Monday after a four-day protest strike by 1,300 cabin crew members in Denmark, but most had returned to work by the evening, the airline said.